Rbray47

I'll be the odd man here... I'd like a Tundra, Colorado, or Ram.

Good point. Right now my interests are building kits from my childhood (80s) that I screwed up the first time. Its nostalgia for the time, not the particular vehicle. I would much rather build modern subjects, like from the late 80s until now. I think it would be awesome to have full detail modern Jeeps and new pickups. I'm sure those younger than me may feel the same.

Rob, I think most of them rusted away. I bought my 76 when it was already over 20 yrs old and had over 100k miles. It was pretty rusty then. I put another 50-60k on it before I sold it to my ex-BIL. The frame was almost rusted through, and I made sure to tell him beforehand. He forgot one day and loaded it down with rocks. One frame rail snapped when he drove it loaded over a hump in his yard. Outside of electrical issues, it ran fine until the very end.

As far as the single wall beds go, I've seem home brewed solutions involving plywood. If ya did that mod when the truck was new it kept the dents out, but accelerated the rust (held moisture) My 1:1 was beat to heck when I got it, so I didnt even try.

Thanks! I "think" the paint is Testors one coat star spangled blue.

I like it a lot. Never would've thought of those wheels, but they work well.

I used a 1996 4.3 V6. It fit almost perfect. My other choice was the optional 4 cyl from MPC's Fiero kits.

One ad in particular keeps breaking my train of thought...

I've been buying whatever I need online. Since I'm in the People's Republic of Kentucky, who knows when non essential businesses will be open.

That's awesome!

Should work. Plenty strong enough. 20 years ago I used the same trans mated to a 4.6 V8. It actually fit in the Taurus, too. Wish I still had it.

Phil, that F1 is awesome. Here's my one and only:

Before and after dash pics. Once I realized that it would be so hard to see, I have up before scratchbuilding the missing heater that would go under it.

I'm calling this one done. No point in doing too much detailing given the wonky plastic. If Revell can fix the styrene issue, I'd gladly buy more, as I like old pickups. The kit didnt supply a master cylinder or radiator hose, so I sourced one from the parts box. I also omitted the goofy rear bumper. Since I swapped the V8 out for a 4.3/auto, I modified a parts box console and shifter, and even though it cant be seen, I ground off the manual pedals and replaced them with a wide one for the brake. The dash isnt complete, as the areas on either side of the steering column just wasn't there, so out of the box, there's no ignition, wipers, or light switch. Again I added that, along with the tray under the glove box even though they're hard to see.

No box damage. Only real damage was where whomever cut the cab and bed from the sprue.

Casey, I purchased mine from "ballzanos_hobby_warehouse" When I searched ebay for the kit, I used the "sort by price, lowest to highest" They were the cheapest. Maybe that's how so many people are getting one from them?

Awesome build. We need a 'like' button.

Yeah, my wife opened the package when it arrived (I use her ebay account, so it had her name on it) She thought it was used from the lack of cellophane lol As for the bumper, I dont like it either. I'm building mine without one. I also went with the 6 lug wheels from the MPC Deserter kit.

Some more work done. Painted the body Rustoleum Gloss Seaside (which takes forever and a day to dry) I haven't tried the Rustoleum paint+primer line on models until now. I sprayed it right over the bare plastic. It covered great and dried (mostly dried) smooth. I originally wanted to go with dark blue like the truck I owned, but I also needed a bright color (for my ar500 steel) Turns out, I like it. The kit comes with a 265 V8/4 spd. I switched it out with a 1996 4.3 V6/auto. It lined up perfect, didn't even have to change the driveshaft length. Still a lot left to do, but it's starting to look like a truck. Oh, the radiator traps the hood hinge in place. Installing a radiator hose is going to be a challenge.

Wow... I dont even know how anyone could've missed that. I hope Revell takes care of it, although from past experience, I have my doubts.

My example had an upward bow in the middle of the chassis. This made the fit between the cab and bed off quite a bit. Given the issues thus far, I decided to skip trying to straighten it and leveled it instead. Also, the front spoiler/lower pan thingy popped off twice. It only has two small contact points at the bottom edge of the fenders. I added some bracing to give myself more areas to glue as well as keep the part from flexing.

I dont have any right now. I'd thought of the mold release angle, but washing the parts didnt seem to effect anything. The best way I've found so far is roughing up the gluing contact points.

Plowboy, the styrene seems on the soft side. It cuts (too) easily.

I was really excited to get my hands on this kit, as I owned a 76 for years. I actually liked it, despite its tendency to rust as a hobby. But, after receiving it, and messing with it for a bit, I'm a little disappointed. Whatever plastic it is molded in, is horrible. It tends to rip and tear even with a fresh, sharp blade. Using nippers to remove parts from the trees makes an even worse mess. Also, Tamiya cement and even superglue doesn't stick too well. The first pic shows where I had to reinforce the cab wall. It would just pop loose. Sanding the joints with a coarse grit helps, but not all joints are conducive to doing so. As supplied, the kit comes with 8 lug rims. They're nice, but not accurate. The second pic shows what I chose to use. They're the extra 6 lug wheels from the MPC Deserter kit. I originally intended to rebuild the wheel openings to depict the truck a little closer to stock, along with moving the taillights from under the tailgate to either side, to depict a slightly newer model year. However, that plan went out the window as I'm afraid I'll destroy the body trying to work with this horrible plastic. Third pic shows a preliminary mockup.

Mine came pre-mangled from the factory...